1. Field of the Invention
This application relates to riding exercise machines and more particularly to a riding exercise machine that may be reconfigured between a use configuration and a storage configuration.
2. State of the Art
Exercise machines in which the user mounts the machine and sits upon a moving seat interconnected to a handle which is pulled to raise the seat against the weight of the user may be regarded as riding exercise machines. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,300,760 (Bobroff) illustrates one form of exercise machine in which the user mounts the machine and operates a lever mechanism with the arms and the feet against a resistance which is the user's weight positioned upon the seat.
Commercial riding exercise machines are known including the HEALTHRIDER.TM. machine, sold by HealthRider, Inc. of Salt Lake City, Utah. The HEALTHRIDER machine has a frame with a rotatable or movable lever interconnected to a seat. The lever is operated by the user's hands and feet against the resistance of the user reclining on a seat in a fashion similar to that illustrated in the Bobroff patent. The CARDIOGLIDE machine sold by ICON Health & Fitness, Inc. of Logan, Utah also has a frame with a seat interconnected with a lever. It also has a resistance mechanism interconnected to resist movement of the lever and seat. U.S. Pat. No. 3,446,503 (Lawton) illustrates another form of riding machine in which a handle is interconnected with a seat. U.S. Pat. No. 5,299,997 (Chen) also shows a riding-type exercise machine in which the user's weight is used to resist movement of feet and hands. Other patents disclosing similar or related machines include U.S. Pat. No. 5,306,218 (Chen), U.S. Pat. No. 5,366,428 (Liao), U.S. Pat. No. 5,370,594 (Grinblat) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,356,357 (Wang, et al.).